Cigarettes and Life Talks
by randylahey5446
Summary: A Leorio/OC, just two roommates having a life talk.


"Another day another struggle?"

"Christ almighty, don't even get me started," he said, lighting up his cigarette and looking off in the distance.

Each of them were silent for a moment, as each shared the simple scenery to get their mind off of their complicated lives. Leorio was working hard every day with his studies with medical school. Spending hours and hours studying pretty much every day world drive any normal to insanity (or develop a dependency on something, like cigarettes). While Ken on the other hand, worked two jobs, slaves away at attending five classes a week, and has a demanding relationship on top of that.

"You should of heard what my girlfriend said to me today," he shook his head, breathing in his cigarette as if he was trying to get cancer on the spot.

"Hah, you're still with that bitch,"

"Fuck you man! She may be a bitch be she's _my bitch_ ," he coughed angrily, flailing punches at his foe until a cry for truce was made.

"Man I was only fucking with you jeez,"

"Haha, you're such a pussy,"

"Whatever you say man. Anyway, what did your girl say?" asking his stressed friend, taking a long hit out of his cigarette.

"Two things: quit smoking and to spend more time with her,"

"Shit! You for real?"

"Yeah man, shit's wack,"

"You're telling me man," he complained, becoming taken in by the view of this city. Before he could continue the conversation, he felt propelled when he tried to come up with a word to describe the scenery before his eyes.

 _Damn, I know there is a word to describe this urban feel right now. I know rustic is an adjective to describe how someone's outdoorsy, flotsam describes city debris after a disaster...uhhh, well, when we see something, that something projects light waves that is taken in by our eyeball. And then the image is reflected back through our retina which allows us to see things. Working backwards is a problem solving heuristic in which we start from the solution, and go through the steps in reverse chronological order to eventually put all the steps into action and achieve the goal. And on top of that, the KKK hates black people and women don't have balls!_

 _Just a bunch of useless shit in high school that will stick around me for life, yet won't help me in anything that matters in life_ Ken scoffed, taking a brief break from his smoke.

"Have you thought about breaking up with her?"

"Man, I really don't know, it's really stressful,"

"What is?"

"Everything, and this relationship is stressful as well. I don't even know if I feel like talking about it right now,"

"We don't have to talk about it at all. Sorry if I was a bit forward asking about you and your girl, I'm concerned for you,"

"Don't stress it, it's all good," he said, taking a subtle hit out of his cigarette and looked off at the scenery.

Ken loved his girlfriend and has good chemistry with her, however he feels like life would simply be much easier without her. Plus he's been trying to become a doctor and feels as though he is behind in his studies. This motivation to study more was partly due to Leorio becoming his roommate and becoming inspired by his ambitious work ethic and attitude. Ken feels as though if he could just capture a similar attitude to his and apply it to himself, he could be doing a lot more for himself than usual.

But eversince he got into a relationship, it's been getting in the way of his studies more often. Sure spending time with her gets his mind off of his work and studies, but he still goes out with co-workers and Leorio enough to keep him sane. He didn't need her to stay sane didn't the week, and he didn't need her getting away with his work and studies.

He was able to manage spending time with her for the first four months, but the last two months has been a struggle to balance out his schedule. He's showed up late twice, nearly lost his cashier job for being late, studying less, and got a low score for one of his exams he didn't have ample time to study for. Ken is starting to feel as though breaking up with her is the best option.

"Hey man, maybe you're right, maybe I should break up with her,"

"Really? I mean, I never said that-,"

"No, I know but," he interrupts himself while drawing in a deep sigh and stomping out his cigarette in the process. "Life would be easier without her," he said, taking out another cigarette.

"Like, I love her and everything, but I'm struggling a lot. I wake up early for classes, go to one of two of my jobs, and an even more demanding girlfriend to deal with at home to balance out with my studies. It have some leisure to spend going out with people occasionally, but I have no time alone anymore. And when I do, I usually just stress about thinking how I'm going to finally break up with her,"

"Jeez man...two months ago I suggested the same thing and you went on a violent diatribe against that for hours. Hell, you even held a small grudge for me in the process," Leorio laughed.

"Nahh, I was a dumbass. You were right, I got so many other things to worry about besides her. Having a girlfriend is nice, but it's not as big of a deal as society makes it out to be. With this mindset of how romance could make or break people ingrained into the fabric of society, gets into people's minds consciously or unconsciously, anyway, it's just a toxic mindset. One of the reasons is that people use romance as a tool to replace a problem you're facing in life with 'love'. Say you're lonely for instance, is a relationship going to make up for that? When you're with her yeah, shit's tight, but when you're not with her or if shit hits the fan, you're fucked,"

"Damn, you've changed,"

"What do you mean?" Ken asked with a different tone, making Leario a bit up tight.

"Nah, it's just a different mindset you had a while a go. You used to ramble about how relationships are a great way to 'open up' and 'be real' with yourself. And now you're saying in short, that relationships are just a subconscious way of ourselves becoming dependent on one person to temporarily shield things about ourselves he need to work on,"

"Exactly, you hit the nail on the head! Like the song said Leorio, _bitches ain't shit but hoes and trix,"_

 _"So lick on these nuts and suck the dick,"_

 _"Get the fuck out after you're, duh-uuun! And hop into my ride to make a quick, ruuuun!"_ The two sang in unison, cracking up at the absurd moment they just shared.

"Man Leorio, you're so fucked in the head,"

"Me?! Alright mister 'I have ADHD' when FIRST off, it's AD, _D,_ is what you are trying to get at, yet no matter how many times I try to convince you, you fail to see that there is actually a significant difference between the two!" All Ken could do is shrug his shoulders and sigh, as he was receiving another unasked for lecture from Leorio. "Claiming that you have a mental disability that people struggle with on a day-to-day basis, just shows how incompetent you are to be able to be accountable for your own lack of focus and motivation. That alone makes you _wayyy_ more fuckedin the head than me,"

"Yeah, but you're the one who watches anime porn with 12 year old girls with giant tits,"

" _That was high school!"_

 _"For shame Leorio, for shame!"_ Ken scolded, nodding his head in disgust. Before he could lecture him about the no-no's of pedophilia, he gets interrupted when his phone starts to vibrate.

"You going to answer that?"

"Nah, I'll pass," Ken said, letting the phone ring and turning it on silent.

"Was that your girl?"

"Yes, why?"

"Just wondering," Leorio asked, as Ken puts away his phone.

"She's just going to keep calling me and I'm just not going to answer,"

"That's kind of douchey, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but I don't give a fuck,"

"Does this happen often,"

"Yeah, I used to answer everyone of her calls all the time. But ever since the argument, I only answer half the time,"

"Wow, maybe it is best you just break up with her. After all, you have no reason to stay with her if it's at your expense. I get that you love her, but you got to love yourself too,"

"Thanks, I know I didn't thank you the first time, but I was just being stubborn," Ken confessed, taking out another cigarette.

"No problem," Leorio smiled, starring over the balcony at the cars going by. It was late at night on a Saturday, and neither of them had anything planned in the morning. Ken did have his job being a cashier, but it was a short shift since the store he works for is only open for a few hours on Sundays. So neither of them usually got to bed until past-midnight at this time of the week.

"You got the time?"

"It's 11pm," Leorio answered, checking his watch.

"Really? I thought it was at least 12 by now,"

"Nope, but I might go to sleep soon anyway,"

"Time moves slow when your life sucks,"

"Get laid you sad fuck, not all the cigarettes in the world is going to satisfy your dormant libido you know,"

"It's been a few months so maybe you're right,"

"Really, two months?"

"Yeah, I mean we did other things, but, you know,"

"How many times have you seen her?"

"Maybe like, 6 times. We actually took a break after the fight and things have cooled off, but it's not the same as it was before,"

"I feel you," Leorio said, comforting his friend. "Man, I just can't wait for this semester is over,"

"Why?"

"You mean I haven't told you?"

"No?"

"The Hunter's Exam!"

"Oh shit I totally forgot! I'm worried as shit for you man, I just hope you don't act like a total clutz and kill yourself taking it,"

"Nah I won't. I'm going to pass and have all the money in the world to pay for this damn school. I was able to barley come with enough money to pay for the first semester, but I need the money you know,"

"Yeah but becoming a Hunter is a one in a million shot,"

"That's why I've been rigorously training for many years like one in a million. I never grew up in a very rich family and money has always been scarce, so it would be nice to have some for myself and to do some good in this world," Leorio said somberly, as Ken remembers his intention for taking the exam.

"Yeah, now I remember. You told me about that thing that has happened I your childhood, and that how it changed your life. I know that it sucks what happened and I can't really relate to that loss, but I envy you. You have so much direction and passion in your life, I wish I could be more like you. I know we always screw around, but having you around has actually helped inspire me to do some good for myself. I feel like I should thank you,"

"It's no fuss, it actually makes me happy to hear that. I'm glad to hear that you're inspired," Leorio said, as Ken responded with a grin and shyly looked away from him.

 _Should I apologize now? Would be too much if I did? Ahhh, fuck it. Now's the time to do that._

"I'm really sorry about what I said about your intentions during our argument. I should have apologized earlier, let alone kept my mouth shut, I knew how much it meant to you and I was way out of line,"

"What are you talking about?"

"That argument we had about me breaking up with my girlfriend? The one you brought up a few minutes ago,"

"Oh yeah! I actually forgot about it quickly. You were just really pissed. However, you're very lucky I liked you, or else you would have been smoking your cigarettes through a straw,"

"You got that right," Ken laughed with that image in his mind. "...so we cool?"

"We've been cool. Like I said, I forgot about what you said really quick. I'm not mad but I appreciate the apology,"

"No problem," Ken yawned.

"I'm tired,"

"Same, but I'm going to stay out here for a few minutes,"

"Alright, well, I'll be going to sleep now."

"Already?"

"Yeah, I'm more tired than usual right now. See ya,"

"Peace dude," Ken said, gesturing a goodbye with a vertical nod.

Ken felt alone now, and felt a peaceful sensation come over him. He felt a light breeze blow over his head as he gazes at the pleasant view up ahead. There were things on his mind, but not a lot of them that weren't thought about already tonight. He felt exhausted from thinking so much, let alone exhausted from the heel his schedule put him through. His cigarette started to go out, as he declared that he would go back in once his cigarette ran out.

He spent his remaining time up letting his cigarette go out and looking at city activity ahead of him. There was less people out than usual on a Saturday night, yet that should be expected once the year was starting to end and the weather gets cooler. Yet the people that were out were very lively and fun to watch. Mostly teens in groups and having the time of their lives. There were plenty of lone walkers and couples as well, despite each being interesting in their own right, there was nothing as engaging to watch as a bunch of teens or even adults, acting like they were little kids again.

 _Damn...I really am going to break up with her ass asap_ he thought randomly, thinking about how he was going to do it. He wants to do it by text, but according to other people it was the 'wrong way' to do it. Yet again, he could care less about how other people told him how to live his life. So he took out his phone, looked at his texts, and didn't think twice before starting a long, muddled text message to his girlfriend about why he was breaking up with her .

He didn't even edit the text or even bothered to read the long text his girlfriend sent him. He got tired of waiting to get rid of this relationship for the longest time, and didn't care for any repercussions that followed. And to get rid of her for good, he blocked her number, and all of her social media profiles to free himself from her. He got a slight rise in adrenaline and felt a slight euphoria from doing it, but that was probably more from the cigarette than from the actual break up.

He then stomped out his last cigarette, turned his phone off, and went to bed.


End file.
